Michael Quinn, econ Ph.D. at UNC-Chapel Hill and now assistant professor at Bentley College, offers 53 tips for job seekers in economics. Some marvelous advice that could save a lot of time.

Comments

[David]

There isn't a place to add comments on Quinn's page, so I'll add 4 here.

1) Room service is worth it. You can completely eliminate the risk of spilling food on interview clothes that way. One spill can kill your day on a tight schedule.

2) Go online and get pictures of the people interviewing you. Know their names and faces before you meet them. Then you can often use their first name when introducing yourself to them pro-actively.

3) Recognize that the interview process includes the whole conference. Be out and about at the conference as much as possible, and try to recognize the people conducting your interviews. You don't want to seem pushy, but the correlation between people I talked to outside of interviews (in sessions, getting coffee, and so on) and later campus visit requests is very high. This can help differentiate you, and also indicates that you might be a collegial colleague.

4) On a campus visit, arrive early or stay late, and take some time to dress like a student and sneak around incognito (avoid the building you will interview in). This will help you get a feel for the place.

[Michael Quinn]

I like the additional four comments. I was at a wedding last
week and someone said that they google people so I googled
myself. I was surprised to see my list had survived and had even
spread to another website. I originally just
jotted down some things I learned along the way for my friends
at UNC who had not gone on the market yet. I had no idea the
list would prove useful to so many people. Best of luck to all of you out there on the market this year.

Mike Quinn